Walter Frances Sample (1870 - 1937)

Born 6 Jan 1870 in Lyons,Indiana

Ancestors

Husband of Emily Ann (Hanks) Sample — married 30 Aug 1900 in Greenbriar, Bollinger County MO

Descendants

Died 23 Mar 1937 at age 67 in rural Poplar Bluff, MO

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Biography

Walter Frances Sample was the youngest of 10 children born to Rev. Thomas Dudley Sample and Frances Sarah (Cooper) Sample. At the age of 30, Walter married 15 year old Emily Ann Hanks on Aug. 30, 1900 in Greenbriar, Bollinger, MO. When they first met, Walter worked for Emily's father, John Thomas Hanks, who owned a lumber company. They traveled with her father's business for some years and finally settled down in Southeastern Missouri, where Walter raised cattle, cut lumber and farmed.

Walter was tall, lanky and always thin as a rail. He was a lenient father for his day. His daughter, Ruby Fanny "Florence" (Sample) Anderson recalls that whenever her father attempted to discipline any of his children, the punishment stopped before it even began, if the child began to cry. He also had an eccentric habit of wearing a sheepskin vest both summer and winter.

By all account,Walter was an upstanding, hard-working man who was beloved by his children and wife and respected by the community. He died from consumption on March 23, 1937 at the age of 67 in his daughter, Florence (Sample) Anderson's home in rural Poplar Bluff, MO.

Walter was a strong healthy man until his late 40s, when "Queen" on one of his horses, severely trampled him and crushed his chest. He never recovered his health after that incident, and was left pretty much an invalid for the rest of his life. Walter past away just a couple of weeks after his wife, Emily, died of a stroke.

Walter and Emily are buried side-by-side in the Bay Springs Baptist Church Cemetery in rural Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

Sources

• Findagrave.com http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=28139356
• my great aunt: Ruby Fanny "Florence" (Sample) Anderson
• my maternal grandma: Myrtle Bertha (Sample) Brown